Al Roker Provides Health Update on ‘Today’ Show: ‘I Feel Good, I Feel Strong’ (VIDEO)
Al Roker said he is “feeling strong” as he provided viewers with a health update on Monday’s (December 12) edition of NBC‘s Today show.
The beloved weather forecaster made a virtual appearance on the NBC morning show, telling Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin, and Dylan Dreyer, “It’s been a tough slog; I’m not going to deny this.”
Roker was hospitalized in the first week of November with blood clots in his leg and lungs, causing him to miss the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in 27 years. While he was initially released from the hospital after a few weeks, he returned to the facility after Thanksgiving.
This morning, we’re checking in with @alroker! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/a3g67OeSDH
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 12, 2022
Now, Roker is back home and recovering. “This has been the hardest one yet — and you know, I’ve had my fair share of surgeries,” he told his Today co-workers. “But it gives you a profound sense of gratitude for this outpouring of prayers and thanks. I’m a very fortunate person.”
He went on to say, “I feel good, I feel strong. And every day, I feel a little bit better,” noting that he made dinner Sunday night.
However, for fans expecting Roker to be back on the Today show soon, you might have to wait a little longer. “You lose a certain amount of muscle mass for every week you’re in the hospital, and I was in the hospital for 4 weeks. So it’s just a certain amount of weakness,” Roker explained.
“I’ve got to just get my strength back. And in the meantime, I was thinking in January of getting my knee replaced, so I’ve got to push that back. So I’ve got a number of issues. I just feel like it’s going to be a little bit of a slog, but a lot of people have to deal with a lot more with a lot fewer resources. I’m very fortunate, very blessed to be able to have these resources.”
Roker went on to thank the medical team at New York Presbyterian Hospital as well as his Today show family. “You guys have been terrific,” he told his co-hosts, revealing how Kotb had visited him at the hospital and “was actually named an honorary doctor!”
“She would literally show up,” he teased. “She did a Houdini; she’d just be there. ‘Pay no attention; I’m not a member of the staff.'”
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